Dave Nachmanoff

Dave Nachmanoff
Born (1964-07-23) July 23, 1964
OriginArlington, Virginia, U.S.
GenresFolk
Occupations
  • Singer-songwriter
  • musician
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar

Dave Nachmanoff (born July 23, 1964) is an American folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer.[1] He had a long-running collaboration with British singer-songwriter Al Stewart; the two toured together for approximately 17 years and recorded the live acoustic album Uncorked (2009).[2]

Nachmanoff holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of California, Davis, and philosophical subjects recur in his songwriting, particularly on the concept album Spinoza's Dream (2016).[3] In addition to recording and touring, he has produced other artists and led collaborative songwriting workshops, including projects with older adults and people with aphasia.[4][5]

Early life and education

Nachmanoff grew up in Arlington, Virginia, and began performing music as a child. When he was around ten, he played with folk and blues musician Elizabeth Cotten; the performance brought him an early review in The Washington Star.[2][4] He attended H-B Woodlawn, graduating at 17, a year early. After his father accepted a banking position in London, Nachmanoff spent a year there performing and trying to establish himself as a musician.[2]

After returning to the United States, Nachmanoff enrolled at Columbia University, where he studied philosophy and met his future wife, Jen.[2] He also studied at the University of Oxford during his undergraduate years. While there in 1985, he attended an Al Stewart concert at the Royal Albert Hall and met Stewart's guitarist Peter White, a connection that later became important to his own career.[6]

Nachmanoff subsequently moved to California and earned a doctorate in philosophy from UC Davis in 1997.[7] He taught philosophy before making music his full-time occupation.[6]

Career

Independent recordings and community projects

Nachmanoff began issuing recordings independently in the 1990s, first on cassette and then with the 1997 CD Candy Shower.[1] His early releases also included the live album Snapshots, A Certain Distance, Threads of Time, the instrumental Al Stewart tribute Wordless Rhymes, and Time Before the Fall.[1] Reviewing A Certain Distance, Virginia MacIsaac of Rambles.NET highlighted its expressive lyrics, restrained folk arrangements and mellow vocal delivery.[8] The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Just Plain Folks named him its songwriter of the year in 2001.[4]

Collaborative songwriting workshops were part of Nachmanoff's touring activity by 2001. At a workshop in Sequim, Washington, while traveling to the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts, he solicited spiritual and local themes from the audience and shaped them into a group-written song; The Sequim Gazette described him explaining song structure and encouraging participants to use specific details.[9]

Beginning around 2000, Nachmanoff worked with older adults in the Davis area through an Arts for Elders project supported in part by the city. The participants wrote all 11 songs on Holy Smokes! Ice Cream for Breakfast (2002), while Nachmanoff sang and played nearly all the instruments. Half of the album's proceeds were designated for the senior program.[4] In 2005, a Maine Community Foundation-supported project brought him to Indian Island to work with Penobscot Nation children and tribal elders, turning cultural stories into lyrics for recording and performance.[10] He later led workshops for other groups, including people with aphasia; at a New Jersey aphasia center, participants composed two songs during a three-hour session.[5]

Work with Al Stewart

A later impromptu jam with Peter White led Nachmanoff to audition as White's prospective replacement in Al Stewart's band. Although guitarist Laurence Juber initially received the position, Nachmanoff began substituting and, by the early 2000s, became Stewart's regular lead guitarist and touring partner.[2][6] He toured with Stewart in the United States and Europe and returned to the Royal Albert Hall as Stewart's accompanist in 2006.[6] Nachmanoff also sometimes opened Stewart's concerts with his own material.[2]

Their partnership extended to songwriting. Nachmanoff drafted more than 20 verses for "The Loyalist", a song based on the experiences of his wife's Loyalist ancestors in Nova Scotia. Stewart helped condense and reshape the song, contributed its opening verse, and later recorded a background vocal. Nachmanoff included the result on A Certain Distance.[2]

Nachmanoff produced Uncorked, a live acoustic album recorded in 2008 and released in 2009, and performed on it as guitarist, singer and co-billed artist.[11][6] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Bruce Eder praised the energy and interlocking acoustic-guitar arrangements, and noted that its set emphasized less familiar material rather than Stewart's best-known hits.[11]

Nachmanoff ceased being Stewart's regular guitarist around 2017, as Stewart began touring full-band shows with the Chicago group The Empty Pockets. Nachmanoff was still billed as Stewart's longtime guitarist in September of that year, when Stewart described the Empty Pockets engagement as a newly established arrangement.[12][13] Nachmanoff and Stewart had toured together for approximately 17 years; they continued to perform occasional dates together in 2024.[2]

Later solo and production work

Nachmanoff continued his solo career alongside the Stewart partnership. The crowdfunded Step Up (2011) moved away from his earlier acoustic approach toward a fuller folk-rock and adult-contemporary sound, and was accompanied by more full-band performances.[6][5]

His 2016 concept album Spinoza's Dream combined his musical and academic interests. Its songs use figures and ideas associated with philosophers including Baruch Spinoza, Friedrich Nietzsche and René Descartes to examine questions such as life and death.[3] The personnel included Stewart and musicians associated with Stewart's Year of the Cat, among them Tim Renwick and Peter White.[2][3] Reviewing the album for Popdose, Rob Ross described it as sophisticated without being ponderous, and highlighted the range of musical styles used for its philosophical subjects.[14]

Nachmanoff followed with Cerulean Sky in 2019. The album was recorded with producer-engineer Bill Smith and a studio band including drummer Michael Jerome and bassist Taras Prodaniuk, members of Richard Thompson's rhythm section, as well as keyboardist Carl Byron.[15][2] A vocal-cord hematoma in 2018 left Nachmanoff unable to speak for about six months and interrupted his recording work. He continued to direct production clients remotely through written messages.[16]

When the COVID-19 pandemic halted touring, Nachmanoff again concentrated on studio production, remote collaborations and commissioned songs.[16][2] He also developed the recording project Rumble Strip with lyricist Richard Rossi. Following the EP Let's Roll (2021), Rumble Strip released Sayonara, Baby in 2025; Nachmanoff composed the music, produced the album, sang lead vocals and played most of its instruments.[17] Americana UK described the record as a thoughtful and humorous mixture of folk, Americana, power pop, rockabilly and blues.[17]

Discography

The discography below includes releases for which Nachmanoff is credited as a primary or co-primary artist; appearances solely as a guest or session musician are not included.[18][19]

Albums

  • Down on the Soundfarm (with Dave and the Generators, 1993; cassette)[20]
  • Dweller on the Threshold (1994; cassette)[1]
  • Candy Shower (1997)[18]
  • Snapshots (1998; live)[18]
  • A Certain Distance (2000)[19]
  • Threads of Time (2004)[19]
  • Wordless Rhymes (2005)[18]
  • Time Before the Fall (2006)[19]
  • Step Up (2011)[18]
  • Spinoza's Dream (2016)[18]
  • Cerulean Sky (2019)[18]

Collaborative and project albums

  • Holy Smokes! Ice Cream for Breakfast (with the Davis Elders Project, 2002)[4]
  • Another Big Day (with Ben Decter, 2002)[21]
  • In the Family: Songs by the Silcock Family (with the Silcock family, 2004; digital release 2005)[22]
  • Team Silcock (with the Silcock family, 2008)[23]
  • Uncorked (with Al Stewart, 2009)[11]
  • Jersey to California (with Bruce Kalter as the Dave–Bruce Alliance, 2010)[24]
  • Brand New Chapter (with the Belles-Silcock family, 2010)[25]
  • Let's Roll (with Richard Rossi as Rumble Strip, 2021; EP)[26]
  • Sayonara, Baby (with Rossi as Rumble Strip, 2025)[17]

Singles

  • "Macarena" (2008)[18]
  • "Butter and Baby Blue" (with Joanna Jakubcin, 2019)[27]
  • "August Is Vermilion" (with Jakubcin and Dvorecky, 2020)[28]
  • "The Red Silk Ladder" (with Jakubcin and Dvorecky, 2020)[29]
  • "To the Sky" (with Lizzy Hardingham, featuring Paul Ilechko and Dave Artus, 2021)[30]
  • "Long Night" (2021)[18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ruhlmann, William. "Dave Nachmanoff Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Yancey, Dwayne (July 16, 2024). "How a Virginia-born singer joined with Al Stewart to write a song about Loyalists who fled to Nova Scotia". Cardinal News. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "Singer-Songwriter Dave Nachmanoff Performs Live In Studio". Capital Public Radio. October 31, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 McManis, Sam (March 24, 2002). "Something to sing about: Writing songs with seniors strikes timely note for Northern California folk artist". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 Ruan, Michelle (May 12, 2012). "An Interview with Dave Nachmanoff". The California Aggie. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Davis, Natalie (October 3, 2012). "Musician Dave Nachmanoff Keeps It Positive". Patch. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Ph.D. Placements". University of California, Davis, Department of Philosophy. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  8. ↑ MacIsaac, Virginia (May 18, 2002). "Dave Nachmanoff, A Certain Distance". Rambles.NET. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  9. ↑ Dashiell, Michael (May 30, 2001). "A frenzy of song at workshop". The Sequim Gazette. p. A6. Retrieved July 22, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Tuning In" (PDF). University of Maine Today. University of Maine. March–April 2005. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 Eder, Bruce. "Uncorked: Al Stewart Live With Dave Nachmanoff Review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  12. ↑ Smith, Joseph W. III (September 21, 2017). "Veteran rocker Al Stewart performs at the State Theatre". Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  13. ↑ Kirby, Dave (September 27, 2017). "Al Stewart's cast of characters". Boulder Weekly. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  14. ↑ Ross, Rob (May 11, 2016). "Album Review: Dave Nachmanoff, Spinoza's Dream". Popdose. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Dave Nachmanoff". WHYY. March 16, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  16. 1 2 Farrell, Lyra (May 11, 2020). "UC Davis alumnus and musician Dave Nachmanoff discusses his new routine sans live performances". The California Aggie. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  17. 1 2 3 Lacey, Chas (September 30, 2025). "Rumble Strip 'Sayonara, Baby'". Americana UK. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Dave Nachmanoff". Apple Music. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "Time Before the Fall". Bandcamp. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Dave's Biography". Davis Community Network. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Another Big Day". Apple Music. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  22. ↑ "In the Family: Songs by the Silcock Family". Apple Music. January 10, 2005. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Team Silcock". Apple Music. January 16, 2008. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Jersey to California". Apple Music. January 1, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Brand New Chapter". Apple Music. May 24, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  26. ↑ "Let's Roll". Bandcamp. September 22, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  27. ↑ "Butter and Baby Blue". Apple Music. June 7, 2019. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  28. ↑ "August Is Vermilion". Apple Music. July 25, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  29. ↑ "The Red Silk Ladder". Apple Music. October 1, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
  30. ↑ "To the Sky". Bandcamp. January 15, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.